Cablecast Accessibility: What to Know About WCAG & ADA
Introduction
Cablecast has updated its Internet Channels feature to align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These improvements help you deliver content to your communities while ensuring compliance.
A Note on Legal Advice
This article is intended to be a guide and a reference for how Cablecast applies WCAG in accordance with ADA requirements to public Internet Channels.
We recommend that you partner with legal counsel or a web accessibility specialist to better understand what requirements your organization needs to meet.
WCAG? ADA? What's the Difference?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) refer to a set of international guidelines that make digital content accessible.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.
How Are These Two Related?
The ADA requires state and local governments to conform with WCAG for web content and mobile applications.
When Do I Need to Be Compliant?
The Department of Justice issued an Interim Final Rule on April 20, 2026, extending the original compliance deadlines for web content and mobile app accessibility under Title II of the ADA. The updated deadlines are:
State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more: April 26, 2027
Public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government: April 26, 2028
Source: Extension of Compliance Dates — Federal Register, April 20, 2026
How Can Cablecast Help Me?
Cablecast's Internet Channels are the best way to share your live and on-demand content with your audience. Because these sites are publicly available to your viewers, Cablecast has built Internet Channels to be WCAG 2.1 compliant in accordance with the ADA.
Is My Site Compliant?
There are a number of free accessibility evaluation tools you can use to check whether your site is compliant. Please note that automated accessibility compliance tools do not catch all WCAG guideline issues. While these tools are useful for identifying technical and code-based errors, they have limitations.
Note: These free tools are not specific to Cablecast and can be used on most websites.
Resources
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) — Outlines and discusses everything you need to know about WCAG
Extension of Compliance Dates — Federal Register, April 20, 2026 — Current compliance deadlines under the ADA
New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments — Background on the Americans with Disabilities Act web rule
VPAT: Cablecast Accessibility Conformance Report — Describes how well Cablecast meets accessibility standards
You can submit a case to support if you have any additional questions or feedback.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a reminder, we recommend that you partner with your legal counsel to better understand what requirements your organization needs to meet.
Q: Will all local government meetings be required to have closed captions — live and/or playback?
A: WCAG 2.1 AA requires that all content have closed captions. Source: ADA.gov
Q: We have years of videos on our Cablecast VOD. Do you have an easy solution for captioning old videos without bringing them back to the playback server?
A: Consult with your legal team. The ADA notes that content in a specific "Archive" section of your site may not require captions. Source: ADA.gov
Q: Is descriptive audio for the sight-impaired part of the WCAG 2.1 AA specification?
A: Yes. Audio descriptions are required under WCAG 2.1 AA for pre-recorded video content. Audio descriptions narrate visual information that isn't conveyed through dialogue — for example, a presenter pointing to a chart on screen — so that viewers who are blind or have low vision can follow along with the full content of your programming.
Cablecast supports audio descriptions in two ways:
MediaScribe Narrate integration — Cablecast integrates with MediaScribe Narrate, an AI-powered audio description service from Tightrope Media Systems. Audio descriptions are requested directly from the Show Record and, once rendered in MediaScribe, are automatically attached to your VOD as an audio sidecar track. See How Cablecast and MediaScribe Narrate Work Together for details.
Third-party sidecar files — You can also manually attach an audio description track produced by any provider by uploading it directly in the Audio Sidecars section of the Show Record. Supported formats are MP3, WAV, MP4, and OGG (up to 50MB).
Note: MediaScribe Narrate is a separate subscription from Cablecast. To get started, contact the MediaScribe sales team.
Q: Are we required to caption content we didn't produce?
A: You may need to caption content that you share on your website to remain WCAG compliant. Source: W3C — Captions
